Athens, Greece

Our train finally left Thessaloniki at 12:30 am. The scheduled departure time was supposed to be 11 pm. I think it was a 24-hour strike so they don't actually get back to work until midnight. There was mayhem at the station when we got there a little after 10 pm. We found out later that many people were at the stations to send young men friends or relatives off to the service. We were lucky to find rooms at a hostel when we arrived in Athens in the morning. This is one of the best-run hostels that we've stayed in. Not only that, it's located near a Metro station, a lot of restaurants, a street market, a pedestrian mall, and a flea market. It's also within walking distance from most of the tourist attractions.
As soon as we were ready, we headed towards the famous Acropolis.  Not surprisingly, there were a ton of tourists there and we had to slowly make our way up to the top, where the Parthenon is.  It's hard to believe that after seeing so many pictures of the Parthenon, that I am finally here standing next to it.  It was a beautiful sunny day and I took a lot of pictures of all the tourist attractions.  The hostel has a recommended "City Walk" on its map and I was able to visit most of them, including other historic sites and museums.
The amazing thing is a lot of these archaeological stuff in Greece are dated BC (i.e. Before Christ).  The Greeks have done a very good job of restoring some of these pieces or buildings and some of these artifacts are very good considering that they are at least 2,000 years old.
I am sure most of you have heard of the financial crisis in Europe and Greece is in the middle of it.  Now that we are here, it's not surprising that they have a financial problem.  A lot of Greeks just sit around drinking coffee all day.  The retirement age here is 60 and many people here don't seen to do much.  At the hostel where we are staying, none of the employees are Greek.  On top of that, they are going on strike and demonstrating for whatever causes.
Tomorrow we are taking the bus to Patras, where we'll take a 14-hour ferry ride to Bari, Italy.  From Bari, we'll take the train north to Bologna.

The Parthenon

The Parthenon Theatre where many concerts are held

Temple of Zeuss

Parliament House

Pedestrian Mall (Ermou Street) next to our hostel

Old Church on Ermou Street

Sunset over Agora and the Temple of Hephaestus

Night view of Acropolis from rooftop bar of hostel

Statue of Soldier

Statue of Socrates

Demonstration on the street

Financial PIIGS (Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece, Spain) - one is missing